ANATOMY WORLD - A MULTIMEDIA LEARNING RESOURCE PORTAL FOR THE ANATOMICAL SCIENCES

Barbara Freeman* and Megan Linos, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland, OH  44106 U.S.A.

Purpose

Modern medical school curricular constraints have forced many anatomists to rethink how they teach (and how students learn) the anatomical disciplines.  Chief among these constraints are time and students’ learning styles.  There is ample (anecdotal) evidence that today’s students learn in ways very different than those employed by their teachers.  Furthermore, the study of gross anatomy, histology, pathology, embryology, and neuroanatomy requires the successful learner to create “pictures” in his/her mind.  What better way to capture the essence of these visual disciplines than to provide a multimedia digital learning environment?

Methods

Anatomy World is a topic-driven multimedia learning platform organized according to discipline (e.g., gross anatomy, histology). Topics are also linked to a calendar that reflects the pertinent class schedule and a metadata-based search permits an even more precise resource search   Among learning tools that site users can access are

·         Pre-recorded “mini” lectures focusing on specific or complex concepts, often employing illustrations labeled by the instructor as the lecture proceeds.

·         Audiovisual demonstrations of prosected cadavers

·          “Feedback” exercises in which students label illustrations or complete multiple-choice questions accompanied by explanations of correct answers

Results

Site usage was closely monitored; results over a five-week period are impressive.

·         106 users out of possible 160

·         145 hours viewing time, 5 hours/day

·         Currently 25 video files – total of 2500 videos seen

·         3000 page hits

Conclusion

It appears that students are finding this site beneficial.  Many additional learning tools, including animations and “learning modules”, are currently under development.